Where will I sleep tomorrow? Housing,homelessness, and the returning prisoner

Abstract

This year, over 630,000 prisoners will be released from state and federal prisons across the country—more than four times as many as were released in 1980. In this article, we examine the scope of the prisoner reentry issue—what is known about the intersection of housing, homelessness, and reentry and about the barriers returning prisoners face in securing safe and affordable housing.

Although the housing challenges are formidable, progress is being made on numerous fronts. We seek to frame the dynamics of the reentry housing discussion by highlighting the promising strategies that are emerging. These strategies, taken to scale, could help create a very different national policy on prisoner reentry. Ultimately, effective reentry strategies have the potential not only to reduce re‐arrest and increase public safety, but also to reduce homelessness.     

Common‐interest housing in the communities of tomorrow

Abstract

This article offers a broad conceptual framework for understanding the rise of common‐interest housing developments (CIDs), including gated communities, townhouse and condominium projects, and other planned communities. The article begins by describing the CID as an institution and the essential characteristics and varieties of CIDs. Second, the rapid spread of CIDs is attributed to the incentives currently operating on real estate developers, municipal governments, and consumers. Third, this institution is placed in the context of definitions of public and private, and the categories of state, market, and civil society.

The article then presents the eight different “big‐picture” interpretations of this overall phenomenon that could inform the public policy framework within which CIDs are situated. They can be seen as an imperfectly realized version of the “rational choice” or “public choice” model, and reform efforts should be aimed at making choice mechanisms more effective.     

Does density exacerbate income segregation? Evidence from U.S. metropolitan areas, 1980 to 2000

Abstract

A fundamental goal of many smart growth efforts is to promote greater socioeconomic equity through more compact development. In this article, we point out that the connection between the built environment and socioeconomic outcomes may be more complex than it is generally portrayed to be, particularly in light of recent trends in urban and regional development.

Through an empirical analysis involving two measures of income segregation, dissimilarity and isolation, in a national data set of metropolitan areas from 1980 to 2000, we illustrate that the relationship between density and income segregation follows a quadratic function, first rising, then falling, as densities increase. Moreover, changes in density—whether increases or decreases—always increased segregation. These findings suggest that, if greater socioeconomic equity is a goal, smart growth programs need to pay as much attention to market forces and the underlying political landscape as they do to the built environment.     

HOPE VI relocation: Moving to new neighborhoods and building new ties

Abstract

Severely distressed public housing developments are being torn down and redeveloped through the HOPE (Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere) VI initiative in cities across the United States. This article examines how families from one HOPE VI site decided where to move and how they fared in building social ties with their new neighbors. Semistructured interviews from a random sample of 41 families with children were analyzed.

Families that chose to move into public housing expressed concern about the unreliability of the Section 8 program and their own ability to pay the extra utility costs involved. Those who used Section 8 vouchers to relocate had more education on average and made this choice to improve the neighborhood for their families. Over the past two years, regardless of what kind of neighborhood they moved into, families have not rebuilt the close ties most of them had in their former neighborhood.     

法治视域下的社会诚信建设

在中国当前社会转型时期,诚信缺失已经成为一个严重的社会问题。诚信与法治具有内在的统一性,诚信应建立在法治的基础之上,必须依靠法律制度作保障。要高度重视法治建设在社会诚信建设中的积极作用,从立法、司法、执法、普法、监督等各个环节、各个层面推动社会诚信建设。     

Regenerating the City: People,Politics, Power and the Public Sphere

Abstract

The transformative potential that has come to be associated with networking in all areas of social, economic and political life, not least initiatives designed to tackle urban deprivation, is premised upon the idea that better outcomes prevail when state, market and civil society actors work together in partnership to agree and implement change. Such a perspective is informed by two underlying and related assumptions; first, an understanding of democracy as being essentially deliberative in nature; second, an understanding of social and political change as being essentially consensus based. An agonistic model and alternative explanation questioning these assumptions and the ‘transformative’ claims made on behalf of partnership is presented in this article. In contrast to what is termed a ‘neo-liberal orthodox’ approach an alternative interpretation of regeneration located within a radical conceptualisation of civil society is proposed. Regeneration, it is argued, is better conceptualised in terms of contestation between state, market and third-sector interests with better outcomes for communities prevailing when third-sector actors develop the legitimacy and power to engage politically within the context of a contested public sphere.     

信息化条件下四川省城乡社区警务基本态势及发展研究

信息化对公安机关社会管理和打击犯罪的社会责任提出了更高要求。信息化条件下城乡社区警务面临新的挑战。以四川省城乡社区警务建设为研究对象,调查分析信息化条件下城乡社区警务基本态势及面临的挑战,可提出依托社区信息化发展、增强信息主导警务的理念、完善社区警务情报信息工作机制、强化社区民警能力培养等发展措施。实现信息化在社区警务运行中全方位的渗透和融合,可推动城乡社区警务发展,提高社区治安防控能力。     

The South African National Credit Act fails to protect homeowners against various interest rates hikes

Where a credit provider makes a proper financial assessment and finds that the low-income consumer will be able to satisfy in a timely manner all the obligations under all the credit agreements to which the consumer is a party he will in all probability conclude the credit agreement with the consumer. Obviously the affordability assessment made by the credit provider will depend on the prevailing interest rates at the time. There has been several interest rate hikes since June 2006 to December 2008 in South Africa that has had a detrimental impact on low-income home owners. Due to the various interest rate hikes and the prevailing high interest rates many consumers have lost their mortgaged homes. The South African National Credit Act of 2005 has failed to take into its purview cases such as these, and as a consequence there is no sort of consumer protection available for the low-income group who become over-indebted, because of the constant rising interest rates on their mortgage loans.     

小额信贷的路径选择及法律规制

额信贷潜在利润丰厚,是各类商业银行和投资者追逐的新目标,同时地方政府也有浓厚兴趣。尽管发展小额信贷符合多方利益,但现实中小额信贷等新型金融组织面临多重法律困境。如何在民间金融法制化的轨道上健全小额信贷这类金融组织的相关法律法规？如何找到法律困境的出路？对这些问题的研究无疑将有助于我国小额信贷等新型金融组织的健康发展。     

中国的反贫困政策:评价与展望

近年来,随着改革开放的不断推进,中国的贫困问题已逐渐由农村贫困发展为农村贫困与城市贫困并存的局面.本文考察了中国现行的贫困标准和总体贫困状况.并对国家反贫困政策绩效进行了初步评价.在此基础上,针对现行反贫困政策存在的主要问题,提出应按照统筹城乡协调发展的理念,建立统一的城乡贫困标准、监测体系和国家反贫困政策,树立农村与城市反贫困并重的理念,统筹城乡社会保障和就业制度.